Public can tour West Closure Complex on Saturday – Article by Advocate Staff Report (The New Orleans Advocate)

The Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-West is hosting a public tour of the West Closure Complex, the largest pump station in the world and largest sector gate in North America, as part of its effort to promotetwo millage proposalson the Nov. 21 ballot.

The tour will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at 500 East Bayou Road in Belle Chasse.

The tour will include demonstrations of how the $1.1 billion complex, which protects the most populated areas of western Jefferson Parish and all of Algiers, will operate in advance of a hurricane.

The SLFPA-West has been meeting with civic and business groups in Algiers and West Jefferson to explain the millage proposals.

Voters in Algiers will be asked to renew the Algiers Levee District’s 6.35-mill special maintenance millage that expires at the end of the year. The renewal would keep total flood protection-related taxes in Algiers unchanged at 12.53 mills, which generates $2.4 million a year.

In West Jefferson, voters will be asked to approve an additional 5.5 mills on top of the 5.03 mills that now bring in $5.1 million a year for the West Jefferson Levee District. The new tax would cost the owner of a $175,000 home $55 more per year, according to the SLFPA-West.

Both the Algiers and West Jefferson levee districts are under the control of the SLFPA-W, which draws its funding from them.